Sony Hack - Likely Inside Attacker Found - Obama Claim Discredited

The U.S. claims, with zero reliable evidence, that Sony was hacked by North Korea. The NYT editors believed that Weapon of Mass Destruction claim and called for action against North Korea. MoA, like others, seriously doubted the story the Obama regime told:

The tools to hack the company are well known and in the public domain. The company, Sony, had lousy internal network security and had been hacked before. The hackers probably had some inside knowledge. They used servers in Bolivia, China and South Korea to infiltrate. There is zero public evidence in the known that the hack was state sponsored.

Later "explanation" of the "evidence" by the FBI was unconvincing. Now a serious security company claims to have identified the real hacker:

Kurt Stammberger, a senior vice president with cybersecurity firm Norse, told CBS News his company has data that doubts some of the FBI's findings.

"Sony was not just hacked, this is a company that was essentially nuked from the inside," said Stammberger. ... "We are very confident that this was not an attack master-minded by North Korea and that insiders were key to the implementation of one of the most devastating attacks in history," said Stammberger.

He says Norse data is pointing towards a woman who calls herself "Lena" and claims to be connected with the so-called "Guardians of Peace" hacking group. Norse believes it's identified this woman as someone who worked at Sony in Los Angeles for ten years until leaving the company this past May.

"This woman was in precisely the right position and had the deep technical background she would need to locate the specific servers that were compromised," Stammberger told me.

The piece also points out that the original demand by the hackers was for money and had nothing to do with an unfunny Sony movie that depicts the murder of the head of a nation state.

Attributing cyber-attacks, if possible at all, is a difficult process which usually ends with uncertain conclusions. Without further evidence it will often be wrong.

That a person has now be identified with the insider knowledge and possibly motive for the hack and without any connection to North Korea makes the Obama administration's claim of North Korean "guilt" even less reliable.

It now seems likely that Obama, to start a conflict with North Korea, just lied about the "evidence" like the Bush administration lied about "Saddam's WMD". The NYT editors were, in both cases, childishly gullible or complicit in the crime.

The public revelation of the intelligence agencies’ doubts, which have been brewing for some time, came almost by happenstance. In a little-noticed exchange on Tuesday at a hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joseph DeTrani, a longtime intelligence official, told Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island that “we still have confidence that the program is in existence — at the mid-confidence level.” Under the intelligence agencies’ own definitions, that level “means the information is interpreted in various ways, we have alternative views” or it is not fully corroborated.

Too late. North Korea already did her first nuclear weapon test in 2006.

All the lies and ploy are to force North Korea into developing Nuclear weapon, and it was exactly what necons wanted.

At many points, the United States found itself at odds with other partners in the six-party process, such as China and South Korea, which repeatedly urged the Bush administration to show more flexibility in its tactics. Meanwhile, administration officials were often divided on North Korea policy, with some wanting to engage the country and others wanting to isolate it.

Before North Korea announced it had detonated a nuclear device, some senior officials even said they were quietly rooting for a test, believing that would finally clarify the debate within the administration.

Why do they do that?
Not about North Korea, but to catch China.

North Korea is just a trap the US has been carefully preparing for a long time to catch China, by maintaining a crisis spot on Chinese border, and keeping South Korea and Japan in the US orbit and away from China.

For the US, North Korea plays the same geopolitical role as Ukraine. As Ukraine is a geopolitical wedge between Russia and Europe, North Korea is the geopolitical wedge between China and Japan.

One good thing now is that their ploy is becoming more transparent and unraveling more quickly.

just make shit up and hope that it sticks and no one comes out with some proof to discount it.. who ya gonna blame? north korea, or russia, or any other country that hasn't bowed over to the same bs country that regularly does this type of thing.

I beginning to suspect that this North Korea thing is just a distraction to make it easier for Obama to push through the non-existant changes to US policy on Cuba. It's apparent Obama doesn't want to go to war with North Korea having taken military action off the table and the North Koreans are clever enough to understand that so expect a bit more shouting and then things will calm down.
As for the internet outage that hit North Korea over the last couple of days, there is no evidence that it was caused by the United States and was far more likely the result of real technical problems that came at an opportune moment for Washington.

You have to be wearing paleo-leftist beer goggles to see North Korea as some kind of good-faith negotiating partner that finally threw up its hands in exasperation at American duplicity, and tested a nuclear bomb. The North Koreans probably always wanted The Bomb. The talks were probably a long-running ruse to buy time and extract bounty.

I can't say that w certainty, because I was never inside the mind of Kim Jong-il, whose ambitions were the final word. But giving the North the benefit of the doubt is just absurd, whatever we think about American foreign policy. It's the same w/r/t the hack: Sure, maybe the North wasn't involved. But there's some pretty specific evidence they were - including that, according to U.S. officials, the hack was routed through the same South American server that another hack, of South Korean media and banks, earlier took. Now, sure, U.S. officials could by lying. But what do they gain? America has been quite happy keeping North Korea on the back burner. And because it's nuclear armed, real confrontation is out of the question. Cui bono? Who benefits from framing North Korea?

Obama-Kerry US-IL just pulled off the Kiev Revolution, Ukraine is one of the biggest heavy-lift rocket motor and heavy arms manufacturers in the world, US taxpayers are on the hook for $10sBs, Russia and PRNK are both colapsing, Obama needs three or four more 'contingency actions' to cement the All Corporate RINO-RINO Congress of 1000 Years 2015 National I Security State and Global Trade Wehrmacht. It worked for Security

Obama.
It reduces the pressure on him to explain why so many of his "brilliant" Neocon military, economic and 'security' SNAFUs are more likely to send the US and EU economies broke before Russia runs out of friends.

i.e. Obama is deck-chair shuffling on the USS Titanic.

Next time he's on TV, watch his smile and then ask yourself "How happy does he look?"

The whole purpose of the demonization in the MSM of North Korea is to justify the Asian pivot, which is actually about containment of China. The establishment believes it best to not tell the "useful idiots" in the general population so they're using North Korea so as to "protect" the clueless public.

I mentioned in the last thread how the Sony hack was being used to bully through an otherwise un-bulliable PIPA/SOPA/ACTA/CISCA mutation... and that still seems like a plausible politically expedient outcome to me.

However, that might be more effect than cause as some have suggested that the choice of North Korea as the scapegoat isn't as incidental as my scenario would have it. The idea here is that with the recent free trade agreement between South Korea and China, some might fear that China has an eye on taking a leaf out of Japan's book... and that could prove very, very costly for US business interests.

Incidentally, I do happen to agree with Anonymous at #4 that taking North Korea at face value is absurd, but par for the course in these parts. If a country destabilizes the region in the middle east, but is an ally of the US, it is (rightly, in my opinion) condemned, but if a country destabilizes the region in NE Asia, but is an enemy of the US, it is (wrongly, in my opinion)the object of sympathy. Utterly absurd. I take comfort in the knowledge that North Korea and their alternations between hysterical paranoia and hysterical bellicosity make them their own worst enemy no matter which country they happen to be blaming for their crop failures and economic collapses at any given moment.

it's telling that Obama seemed annoyed that Sony "canceled" the movie release without asking him. there's definitely collusion going on.
the media doesn't make it very clear whether Sony did that or the individual theaters did or some combo of both, but Obama's reaction to it was that they should have talked to him first.
that's weird.
in any case, the whole idea of using a stupid hack into people's personal data as some act of war is so comical that it should be the subject of the next stoner flick.
and denying potheads of their mall movie-going experience is terrorism! the whole thing sounds like a complete joke. people here can't even get decent health care, but terror is exposing some billionaire's moronic emails!

P2Asia promised 60:40% realignment to Pacific Theater, from current 40;60%, but (in writing) without Atlantic Theater reduction in forces. No base closures. No redeployments. Pure Mil.Gov Stage 5 Metastasis, from 40:60% to 90:60% as it were, the greatest expansion since to Cold War, and Ukraine:Syria was just an Atlanticist chess move to ensure this will be massive. The only thing the US produces today is bad cars, and military and financial weapons of mass destruction. The Cheneyites will ensure the P2Asia $100sBs all get looted away on IDIQNB contracts. The Gang of Eight 40,000,000 'Blue Visa' Immigration Service Class Bill actually stated in the legislation 'No Bid', together with a New Federal Secret Police, and Rendition SuperMax Prisons in evert State. Together with McHealthcare, McEducatiin, McWar and McPrisons

"As for the internet outage that hit North Korea over the last couple of days, there is no evidence that it was caused by the United States and was far more likely the result of real technical problems that came at an opportune moment for Washington."

America needs a nuclear armed North Korea to scare Japan and South Korea and keep them under the thumb. Meanwhile China and Russia would love to negotiate the North's nukes away and win South Korea at least to their burgeoning economic union.

Okay, I give up. If my posts ever do manage to miraculously resurrect themselves from the spam filter, the discussion and news cycle will have moved on leaving a precisely slim percent chance they will ever be read by non-NSA personnel and precisely zero percent chance they will spur any worthwhile debate. We have moved into all-risk-and-no-reward territory with the spam filter. Not that anyone is likely to see this one, either.

P2Asia promised 60:40% realignment to Pacific Theater, from current 40;60%, but (in writing) without Atlantic Theater reduction in forces. No base closures. No redeployments. Pure Mil.Gov Stage 5 Metastasis, from 40:60% to 90:60% as it were...

Thanks, but there isn't anything to read from me as far as I can see. Two days ago, I linked to an article (http://us.sputniknews.com/world/20141224/1013371366.html) that suggested scapegoating N Korea was part of an attempt to form an Asian version of NATO (No different, I suppose, than the "Asia Pivot.") This would have been triggered by fears of a new China-led new version of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (and I linked to the wikipedia page describing that) after S Korea and China signed their recent free trade agreement.

It's speculative, but the timing for the hacking and subsequent blaming does coincide neatly. It could merely be the cynical exploitation of a pre-existing condition, which is probably what the passage of the corporation-friendly/consumer-hateful Internet security legislation amounts to.

Nothing the Obama Administration does makes any sense. Nor does it accomplish anything for anyone, by all accounts. Obama just wastes lives and money and pouts a lot. Rather like the North Korean leaders.

He's destroyed the Democrats, the nation, the global economy...because he doesn't recognize Reality even when Reality is breaking down his front door and tracking mud into the White House. He is incurable.

One has to wonder if Sarah Palin would really have been that bad? At the very least, it's unlikely that she'd have gotten any of her spawn into a directorship in a fracking concern in Ukraine....

I am so, so embarrassed that Obama is playing this stupid game of laying false charges against any of the US government's (the MIC's actually) enemies, in this case North Korea.

Did he learn nothing in law school about evidence and how to check it? What doesn't he get about losing credibility???

Seriously, dude, the Corporatists think they can make up must any old shit and get by with it, but, amazingly, the electorate does not think that way. Especially from our so called leaders in government.

Did NO ONE in this administration ever consider the downside of telling such a whopper????

Politically, this is another really bad image problem for Obama and all Democrats. Barry was supposed to be the "cool" candidate, the one "with ...it" on many areas youth care about. Riiiight.

Who the hell "advises" this president?

And, given that the US tech industry likes to present itself as the leader in high tech, this going to redound badly on not only the US's overall image, but the tech industry's image.

@Annie: The #9 that took three days to show up. And all of the subsequent attempts to post the identical information. Yeah.

I get that it's the holidays and people want to spend time with their families instead of digging through spam filters. It's just frustrating is all.

Demeter Wrote: " Obama just wastes lives and money and pouts a lot. Rather like the North Korean leaders."

There you are. They do seem to be passing the moral high ground back and forth like a high stakes game of hot potato. In the meanwhile, I'd be perfectly prepared to accept that the Sony hack were simply the work of Anonymous, Lulzsec or even disgruntled employees (again) were it not for Obama's very public lamentation about how Sony didn't get him to personally sign off on cancelling (the by-all-accounts horrible) "The Interview..." as if the entertainment industry were a branch of the US executive. I don't know if that feels more subversive of democracy or just simply foolish to me; I just know that not everybody does it.

As for that belated #9, I don't know how much has changed. I wouldn't be surprised to see this as an excuse to form a NE Asian NATO... at the very least, we can expect a NE Asian Five Eyes (They're already up to three, by the way.)

No, it's not. Just as there's no evidence that North Korea was responsible for the Sony hack, there is also no evidence that the NSA or some other USG organization was responsible for downing North Korea's internet for a short period. That is not to say that the NSA wasn't involved but at the moment there is no evidence that they were. There is a great difference between the NSA doing something publically and privately. In this case they operated privately if they operated at all. So, my hypothesis is as valid as any until more information becomes available.

BTW, claiming responsibility for something that might have been an accident is frequently used by the Israelis such as the alleged reactor in the desert. The IAF did something over north eastern Syria that night but it's not clear what and the claim that that warehouse in the desert was a Magnox reactor is pure fantasy (which demonstrates just how stupid many people are). I'm sure that the "new reality" crowd in Washington have looked and learned.

in the bitter light of the ongoing demonisation of DPRK (AKA North Korea) and its leader Kim Jon-un, what is it like in the country?
hip hop artist and activist Marcel Cartier visited it to see it for himself

'By Marcel Cartier

I had the unique opportunity to spend several days in three different parts of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly just referred to as “North” Korea. This was an exceptionally life-changing experience that challenged many of the pre-conceptions that myself and fellow western visitors who accompanied me from Beijing had going in. Here are some things about North Korea that may surprise you, as many of them surprised me, as well.
etc

so who is evil? the real evil is the US empire
Free Julian Assange
22 mins ·
A top general in the US Strategic Command recently called for the assassination of North Korean leaders - speech is on Stratcom's website.
"This video is on a US government website. As Commander-in-Chief, President Obama owns this assassination video."http://japanfocus.org/-Peter-Hayes/4242
and notice how Bush and Obama have 'administrations' not 'regimes'

The new old news is that while more security experts are publicly doubting the US version of the hack, the FBI is slowly morphing its official position to, "Well, uh... maybe, um... North Korea must have... um... had help! Yeah! That's the ticket! They had outside help!"

Unfortunately, even a cursory examination of the question "Who could have done such a thing?" leads one inextricably into the question, "Who has done such a thing before?" and that question brings up the awkward issue of Stuxnet. It might come as a shock to some that cyber malfeasances isn't restricted to the embarrassing release of racist executive emails, naked celebrities or promotion for objectively terrible films. Very occasionally, this sort of thing involves actual damage... not that you hear so much about that when it happens.

The new old news is that while more security experts are publicly doubting the US version of the hack, the FBI is slowly morphing its official position to, "Well, uh... maybe, um... North Korea must have... um... had help! Yeah! That's the ticket! They had outside help!"

Unfortunately, even a cursory examination of the question "Who could have done such a thing?" leads one inextricably into the question, "Who has done such a thing before?" and that question brings up the awkward issue of Stuxnet. It might come as a shock to some that cyber malfeasances isn't restricted to the embarrassing release of racist executive emails, naked celebrities or promotion for objectively terrible films. Very occasionally, this sort of thing involves actual damage... not that you hear so much about that when it happens.